Chapter 14
Then Rune and Stone got an Uber to take them from the high school to Tasha's house, a pretty little white home with a white picket fence and lots of flowers.
Tasha opened the door for them before they even knocked.
When they entered the house, they realized Lolita was there too. They were surprised to see her.
Lolita smiled at them, then went down the hall after the three cats to pet them.
"Okay," Tasha said, "I picked up your competitor and brought her home with me. Lolita’s playing with my cats. They love her."
"She's actually our friend. Was she trying to befriend you?" Rune asked.
"No. I befriended her. She was just wandering the halls, looking at all the pictures of sports teams and such on bulletin boards. I was afraid one of my fae seer friends would see her and take her into custody."
"Thanks for watching out for her," Rune said.
"She's really sweet." Then Tasha whispered, "Is she the small wolf you mentioned?"
"Yes, she's the smallest wolf in one of the packs. We watch out for her when we can," Rune said.
Stone took a seat on one of the couches as if he lived there.
"Do you want anything to drink?" Tasha got a text message. "Oh, no. Some of my fae seer friends are coming over. You can hide in my bedroom."
Rune wished she could just move like the fae and transport to somewhere else, but it just wasn't an option.
She moved in the direction Tasha motioned for her to go, and Stone finally followed her, acting like he didn't want to comply.
They could easily deal with the fae seers if they weren't hobbled from using their abilities to vanish and reappear somewhere else out of harm’s way.
But they were way too vulnerable otherwise.
Tasha hurried to send Lolita to her bedroom too. Lolita smiled brightly at them and was carrying one of Tasha's orange, fluffy cats.
"Just be quiet," Tasha said. Then she left them alone.
Rune made a disgruntled face at Stone as he entered the pink bedroom and shut the door.
"What?" he asked, appearing as though he didn’t know why she was annoyed with him.
"Could you have moved any slower?" She opened the window in the bedroom, just in case they needed to make a hasty retreat. She knew Stone was showing his alpha-ness and wouldn’t be forced to run away and hide. But they didn’t have much of a choice.
“Yeah, I could have,” Stone said, giving her one of his sly smiles.
Lolita whispered, "I can't believe you're here too."
Stone locked the bedroom door as they heard the doorbell ring.
"Hey, Tasha, did you see all those fae at the high school?
They were strange. We thought we could just take them hostage because they didn't just fae travel and vanish, but damn, they ran fast, then jumped in Ubers and took off. None of us could get to our cars or trucks fast enough to chase them down. Besides, the Uber drivers would probably have called the police on us if we had chased them. We couldn’t afford to get arrested. "
"I didn't see any fae. They must be doing some kind of competition with each other. Why else would a bunch be at the school? Did you catch any?" Tasha sounded interested.
Rune prayed they hadn’t caught any of them.
"Yeah, one. Are you sure that you didn't see any? All of us saw at least one of them." The guy sounded like he couldn’t believe she had missed all the excitement.
"I didn’t. I wish I had. Where were they? And where's the one you caught?"
"They were just all over the school. One was in the cafeteria. Another was at the gym. We found a couple in classrooms. The one we caught is at Wilkin's house now. The fae had been in the art room. Wilkin is there with him, making sure he doesn't go anywhere."
"Can I see the fae?"
"Sure. Since you missed seeing any of them."
"Okay, I'll run by there in a couple of hours. My mom will be home pretty soon. I need to eat dinner, and then I'll run over to Wilkin's house."
"All right. See you then." The guy left with the others, and then the front door shut.
Tasha went to her bedroom, tried the door, and found it locked. "It's just me," Tasha said.
Stone unlocked the door so she could enter her bedroom.
"I don't know if you want to free the fae they have at Wilkin's house or if you can even manage. But I’m game to help you try. Why aren't you disappearing when you have a chance?" Tasha asked.
"The Game Master took away our ability to fae travel," Lolita said, sitting on Tasha's bed, petting the cat on her lap. "We don't have to free the fae. That would mean one less in the competition."
Rune was surprised that she didn't want to rescue the fae. She suspected that there was more to the smallest wolf than she was letting on. She probably was tired of being ignored or bullied.
"Yeah, we'll try and free the fae. But we might need your help," Rune said to Tasha.
Stone was silent, letting them decide what to do.
Rune frowned at him.
He shrugged. "Sure, we'll free him or her, but Lolita's right. It means we have to deal with whoever it is in the competition still."
Rune shook her head. "We free him or her."
Stone smiled at her, as if he thought she was making the right choice, even though he sounded like he didn't want to go along with the plan.
But then someone knocked on the front door. “Oh, I don’t know who that could be.” Tasha hurried out of the bedroom, and Stone locked the bedroom door. Tasha headed to the front door.
"Now what?" Rune asked.
Then Tasha said, "Hey, Lizzie."
"We were supposed to do some work on our science project, but my new friend wanted to come with me."
Tasha didn't say anything for a moment. Then she said, "Uh, yeah, right. I forgot all about it. Take a seat at the dining room table. We can work on it there. Do you guys want something to drink?"
"Sure, do you have some of that pink lemonade still?" Lizzie asked.
"Yeah, I'll go get us some. What about your friend?"
Vesper said, "Yeah, sure."
“That’s Vesper,” Stone said, sounding irritated.
Tasha served up glasses of the pink lemonade for her and for them. "I need to get my science book and notebook from my bedroom. I’ll be right back."
She hurried down the hallway and tried the doorknob.
Stone had unlocked it for her so she didn't have to knock and give them away.
"What is going on now?" Rune asked.
"That fae guy who came after Lizzie at the school is with her now in my dining room!"
"Vesper. Okay, so we put our first plan in place," Rune said.
"What's that?" Stone asked.
"I make up the story that he's been dating me, and here Vesper has been cheating on me behind my back."
Stone smiled. “He will love that.”
"Let's go." Rune left the bedroom, and the others followed her into the dining room.
His eyes widening, Vesper looked surprised to see them. "Well, well, you three get around."
"I can't believe you would be dating some other girl behind my back," Rune tore into him.
His mouth gaped. He couldn't backtrack and say he didn't know Rune now.
"Hi, Lizzie. Tasha told me you were with this guy today, but we've been dating for several months, and I never expected this. It’s not your fault. You didn’t know," Rune continued.
"I've never—" Vesper started to say.
"You're a liar. Has he kissed you, Lizzie? He's a great kisser," Rune made up.
Stone smiled, looking totally amused. Lolita was just taking it all in, maybe learning from the experience.
"I would dump this guy before it goes any further," Rune said. "I can't believe you would do this to me."
Lizzie's mouth was agape. She looked like she didn't know what to say or do.
Tasha said, "Go on. Get out of my house. You're not going to treat my friends that way."
Vesper shook his head. "Rune is lying. I've never dated her."
"Right. Tell her the truth for once!" Rune said. “You’re despicable.”
Lolita cleared her throat. "He dated me too.
I'm sorry, Rune. I didn't know he was seeing you.
Then when I saw he was with you, I realized he was a two-timer.
I can't believe he's doing the same thing with Lizzie now.
I wonder just how many girls he's seeing like that without any of us knowing about it. "
"Well, he’s not dating me," Tasha said. "I wouldn't be seen dead with a guy like that. He doesn't deserve anyone decent."
"I agree," Lizzie said.
They all looked at Vesper to see if he was going to leave.
"Hell." Vesper slowly got up from his chair and said to Rune, "I'll get you back." Then he stalked out of the house and slammed the door.
Rune smiled. "That's what he deserves." But she was thinking that was the end of his quest to befriend a human and destroy her.
Unless the Game Master thought that he had accomplished his mission because Lizzie had been upset by the fae over the whole matter when she thought she had a new boyfriend.
“Are you all right?” Rune asked Lizzie.
Lizzie took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah. We just met, so though he was charming, I don’t feel any great loss. If we’d been dating for a couple of weeks, I might have.”
“Okay, good,” Rune said, though she couldn’t imagine anyone thinking that Vesper was charming! Even Xena didn’t seem to think so. They might be the alpha pseudo-leaders of their respective packs at the games, but they weren’t in any way boyfriend and girlfriend.
"Well, are we ready to—" Stone abruptly quit talking.
Rune figured he had forgotten that Lizzie wasn't a fae seer, and he was going to say he was ready to free the fae from the other fae seers.
"Uhm," Tasha said, "can we get together after dinner and do our science project then, Lizzie?"
"Uh, I…I guess." Lizzie looked at the fae as if she knew they were the reason Tasha had to put off the work.
"Thanks! Rune's friend needs our assistance, and then after dinner, we'll do this."
"Do you need my help too?" Lizzie asked.
"I think we can manage," Rune said. "But if we need your aid, I'm sure Tasha can call you."
"Thanks for telling me the truth about Vesper," Lizzie said.
"You're welcome," Rune said. “I just can’t believe he was doing that to me.”
"And thanks to you, also," Lizzie said to Lolita. "Okay, I'll come back in a while. Good luck with helping your friend."
"Thanks," Stone said.
Then Lizzie grabbed up her backpack and said she'd see Tasha later. She left.
The fae and Tasha breathed a sigh of relief. But now the real danger was ahead of them.